Referee Man of the Match?

Benito Archundia of Mexico had the best performance by a referee in the tournament so far in running the Germany-Italy match. He didn’t stop the game and ruin the rhythm at the slightest contact, and he didn’t assume that a player falling to the ground was proof of a foul. Archundia’s performance was a refreshing change from the others I’ve seen from Germany. It wasn’t 100% perfect, but it was as good as it’s been so far.

Even with the referee allowing play to run relatively uninterrupted, there wasn’t a lot in the way of care-free, flowing, soccer during the game until the extra time. This was not a display like we saw from France a few days ago, to be sure. However, in its own way, it was satisfying just because we saw the display of ironclad defenses, especially Italy’s, peforming at a high level with not too much cynicism.

Once again, this game proves the value of having someone who can simply shoot a ball into a goal. Italy showed that in the (very) end, and Germany didn’t.

This game was satisfying simply because of how close and competitive it was. As you know by now, I’ve written plenty of complaints about the diving tendencies of the Italians in this tournament and the refs’ tendency to be suckered; however, in this game Italy legitimately deserved to win, though barely. Germany has had a really good tournament, and it personally disappoints me a bit that they lost just because I have good memories of those 18 days we spent there in June, and it’s a bit sad imagining all those people devastated by their team’s elimination. That’s not a nationalistic preference, it’s just personal experience.

Culture Shock II: With all that time we spent in Germany, we didn’t get the pleasure of listening to Dave O’Brien and Marcelo Balboa on ESPN telecasts of the games. Instead, we had a single announcer doing play-by-play in German, which we understand almost none of.

Somehow, I think I like the German guy better.

No Dynamo Game: With the Space Shuttle launching today, I had some work to do, so wasn’t able to go to the Dynamo game tonight, unfortunately. This would have been the first game since our return from Germany. We’ll get our sunscreen ready Saturday’s afternoon game against Chivas, though.